Energy Square is now alive with tenants. The net-zero-energy mixed-use building on the midtown site of the former Mid-City Lanes will be called home by 79 people who won a housing lottery that left 800 more on the waiting list. The ground floor will include new space for the Center for Creative Education, part of which will be sublet for a cafe.
Energy Square is the latest significant affordable-housing project to be opened under the auspices of Rupco, formerly the Rural Ulster Preservation Corporation. The site was purchased in 2017 for $615,109, and the $22-million construction cost was funded in part by a million-dollar grant from the New York State Energy Research Development Authority, as well as federal funds earmarked for affordable housing projects.
“No one in Kingston paid tax dollars that went toward this,” said Rupco communications director Julie Whalin. Local taxes were not used to fund the project, Energy Square is subject to a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes agreement that will require a remittance of $82,000 the first year, with increases over a period of 32 years. According to information on the Rupco site, the tax bill on the bowling alley was $37,000.
Moving in has been carefully scheduled to be mindful of social-distancing rules, Whalin said. The bulk of the units — 35 of the 56 available — were awarded to Kingston residents, and another 18 households already resided in Ulster County.
The rental prices are pegged to market rates, but also based on income to make it possible for more people to afford to live in a building where all the energy needs are provided by rooftop solar panels and geothermal wells. The one-bedroom units start at $411, and the top rent for the largest three-bedroom apartments will be $1,428 per month. None of the rent is being paid with section 8 money; Whalin said that there are only 1,900 vouchers for that housing assistance program in the entire county. The rent will be sufficient to cover upkeep of the building, Whalin said.
In addition to no energy bills, the 79 residents and paid building superintendent will have access to a community room with kitchen space and free wireless, a children’s play area, and an outdoor pavilion. The pavilion replaces a planned rooftop recreational space which had to be given over to solar panels. Residents are also enjoying free internet access via Radio Kingston, but Whalin said that this arrangement is not guaranteed at this time. A platinum certification under U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification will be pursued, Whalin said.
Most of the first floor will be occupied by the Center for Creative Education, which will have about triple the space it presently occupies on nearby Railroad Avenue. The 30-year-old center is the source of “a wide array of classes in dance, music, fitness, theater, spoken word, computer-arts technology and the visual arts” for youth as well as other members of the community, according to the organization’s website. Director Drew Andrews said that the space now being outfitted at Energy Square will include a recording studio for projects including music and podcasts; a technology room for computer literacy classes and other curriculum in science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics; and a “thinking room” for reflection, conversation, peer tutoring and counseling.
Andrews feels that the missions of Rupco and the CCE are very much aligned, and sharing space in a building that includes affordable housing puts the center right where it needs to be to serve its target population. When the doors first open, it will be occupied at about half capacity in order to comply with regulations imposed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Visitors will have their temperatures checked, and will need to follow floor markings to ensure sufficient distance from others is maintained.
The sublet café in some of the CCE space, according to Whalin, will be incorporated into the training and curriculum provided through the center. That cafe will be open to the public.
Whalin believes the project will have a transformational impact on surrounding midtown Kingston. “We’re creating a legacy for midtown,” Andrews said.
Whalin dismisses criticism that the condition of the building will go downhill over time. Her evidence is the Lace Mill, a five-year-old Rupco project in a repurposed building that she maintains looks better now than when it was opened. Energy Square is part of a substantial revitalization of this midtown neighborhood, and it’s likely to have a major impact.
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